This Tennessee Scoop Shop Hand-Makes Flavors Like Blackberry Cornbread That You Won’t Find In Stores
Cornbread in ice cream sounds like a dare, not a dessert. But somewhere in Tennessee, there’s a small brick-walled parlor churning small batches of exactly that, swirled with blackberry and studded with crunchy crumbs you can actually feel.
The flavor board rotates constantly, so the scoop you fall for one month might be gone the next. For anyone who thinks ice cream peaked with cookies and cream, a few dollars here will rearrange your thinking.
A Brick Storefront on 2nd Avenue North
Walk two blocks off Broadway in downtown Nashville and the noise starts to thin out. At 129 2nd Ave N, tucked into a row of historic brick buildings, sits Mike’s Ice Cream, a frozen-treat parlor and coffee bar that has quietly outlasted a lot of flashier neighbors.
The shop is compact. Google’s own description calls it a bright parlor serving cones, sundaes and old-school sodas alongside espresso drinks, which is a fair summary of a menu that manages to cover both dessert and caffeine.
What pulls people in is the flavor case. Handmade, small-batch ice cream fills the counter, and the lineup leans Southern in ways you rarely see in a grocery freezer aisle.
Blackberry Cornbread is the headline act, but it shares space with Tennessee Fudge, sea salt caramel, toasted coconut and banana pudding.
Visitors often mention stumbling in after walking downtown, which is exactly how most people find it. There is no giant neon sign or costumed mascot.
Just a door, a counter, and a very long list of flavors made on the premises rather than trucked in.
From Spreadsheets to Ice Cream Churns
Career changes rarely end in ice cream, but that is roughly the story here. Owner Mike Duguay left accounting behind to churn frozen desserts full time, and the shop that grew out of that decision became a downtown Nashville fixture.
There’s something fitting about a former numbers person running a place built on small batches. Making ice cream in-house means constant measuring, tasting, adjusting and tossing out what does not work.
It is not a business you coast through.
Since opening, the shop has stayed committed to the same basic idea: make it here, make it fresh, keep the recipes interesting. That approach shows up in the flavor board, where the safe classics sit beside things nobody else is attempting.
Longtime customers tend to describe the operation as hands-on, and several regulars point to the owner-driven feel of the place as part of why they keep returning. The staff behind the counter often know the flavors well enough to steer you toward something you had not considered.
Small-batch ice cream is a slower, fussier way to run a shop. That choice is the whole reason the menu looks the way it does.
Blackberry Cornbread, Explained
Cornbread. In ice cream.
It sounds like a joke until you taste it, and then it makes a strange kind of sense.
The flavor pairs sweet blackberry with crumbled cornbread mixed straight into the base, so you get creamy fruit followed by little pockets of crunch and toasty corn flavor. Customers who order it often single out those crunchy bits as the part that makes the whole thing work rather than a gimmick.
It has become the shop’s signature oddity. Blackberry cornbread comes up repeatedly in customer conversation about the place, and plenty of first-timers order it specifically because they read about it beforehand and had to know.
Southern logic is behind the combination. Blackberries grow wild across Tennessee hillsides, and cornbread has anchored Southern tables for generations.
Freezing the two together is unusual, but the flavors were already neighbors long before anyone put them in a churn.
Some visitors describe it as sweet, creamy and unexpectedly balanced, with the cornbread reading more like a cookie crumble than a side dish. If you only try one scoop here, this is the one that justifies the drive.
Thirty-Plus Flavors That Keep Rotating
Thirty is a lot of flavors for a shop this size. The rotating selection runs past that number, and because everything is made on-site in small batches, the board shifts with the seasons and with whatever the kitchen feels like trying.
Tennessee Fudge shows up often and earns its fans, described by visitors as very creamy with caramel-like ribbons of fudge running through a vanilla base. White Chocolate Banana Pudding and Key Lime Pie have also made appearances, along with red velvet, toasted coconut and nutter butter.
Coffee fudge gets mentioned constantly by customers, as does banana pudding. Sea salt caramel has its own following, praised for staying balanced instead of tipping into cloying sweetness.
Seasonal experiments are part of the fun. Past specials have included Peach Iced Tea ice cream and Orange Creamsicle floats, the sort of thing that exists for a few weeks and then disappears.
Practical tip: the staff will combine two flavors into a single scoop if you cannot decide, which several customers have taken advantage of. With a board this long, that mercy is appreciated.
Ask what is new before you commit.
Warm Waffle Cones and Mix-Ins
Cone choice matters more than people admit. Here, the waffle cone gets talked about almost as much as the ice cream inside it, with customers noting it arrives warm and delivers a real crunch rather than the stale snap of a pre-packaged cone.
Waffle cones come up in customer conversation more than two dozen times, which tells you something about how central they are to the experience. Pair one with a scoop of strawberry or cookies and cream and you have got a straightforward, satisfying downtown dessert.
Mix-ins open up another layer. One visitor bought a brownie and had it worked into a scoop of birthday cake ice cream, which is the kind of small customization that turns a quick stop into something memorable.
Sundaes are on offer too, including a version named for a certain Tennessee music legend. Old-fashioned sodas and floats round out the counter, and there are snacks if ice cream alone will not hold you.
For kids especially, the warm cone plus a mix-in is a reliable win. It costs a little more and it makes the whole thing feel like an occasion instead of an errand.
The Coffee Bar and Float Menu
Not everyone wants a cone at eight in the morning. That is where the espresso side of the counter comes in, because Mike’s doubles as a coffee bar with specialty drinks alongside the frozen case.
Hot chocolate draws steady attention from customers, mentioned more often than almost any other single item. One visitor could not choose between hot chocolate and ice cream, so the staff built an ice cream float using the hot chocolate, which is a fine example of how flexible the counter can be.
Floats generally are a strong suit. A cherry float made with cherry ice cream and cherry soda earned enthusiastic notes from one guest, and root beer floats are on the list as well.
Espresso shots, artisanal teas and specialty coffee blends fill out the drink menu, and the shop sells dark chocolate-covered espresso beans that some customers rate as a highlight in their own right.
Worth hedging honestly: opinions on the coffee itself are mixed, with some regulars finding it less impressive than the ice cream. Cream and sugar are self-serve.
Come for the scoops, treat the espresso as a convenient bonus.
Exposed Brick and Old-Fashioned Charm
Exposed brick walls set the tone inside. The interior leans nostalgic rather than trendy, with a soda-fountain feel, a compact counter and indoor seating that gives you somewhere to sit while the ice cream is still cold.
Several visitors have singled out the brick and the decor as part of what they enjoyed, describing the room as cheerful and old-fashioned in a way that suits a place selling floats and sundaes. It is a small space, so it fills up fast during busy hours.
Being tucked off the main drag helps. Guests frequently describe the shop as a break from the rush of downtown, a cool, quiet pause after walking Broadway in Tennessee summer heat.
Honesty requires balance here. A handful of visitors find the room plain and wish for more music or decoration, and opinions on the atmosphere genuinely split.
If you arrive expecting a polished, heavily branded dessert lounge, adjust expectations.
What most people agree on is the seating. Having actual tables inside makes a difference when you are traveling with kids or grandparents who need a minute off their feet.
Service That Regulars Talk About
Ice cream is easy to like. Staff make the difference between a fine stop and one you tell people about, and here the counter crew comes up constantly in customer conversation.
Guests describe servers who offer samples, joke with children and stay patient while first-timers work through a board of thirty-plus flavors. Several mention being helped through a complicated family order without any fuss, even during a rush.
Warmth seems to be the through line. Multiple visitors have gone out of their way to name individual employees who improved their day, which is not something people usually bother doing over a single scoop.
Fairness means noting the other side. A few guests have reported feeling rushed or brushed off during peak times, and experiences on that front are not uniform.
Holiday weekends and late Broadway evenings are when the shop is under the most pressure.
Overall the shop holds a 4.6-star average across more than 1,900 Google ratings, which suggests the good encounters heavily outnumber the rough ones. If you want the calmest version, aim for a weekday morning rather than a Saturday night after the honky-tonks empty out.
What a Scoop Actually Costs
Budget question first, since that is what decides most family outings. A single scoop here runs around $8 based on what one customer reported paying, which puts it in line with other downtown Nashville dessert stops rather than grocery-store pricing.
For a family of four, that means dessert lands somewhere in the $30 range depending on cones, mix-ins and drinks. Add a specialty float or a shake and it climbs a little from there.
Prices may shift, so treat those figures as a guide rather than a guarantee and check before you order. Sizes range from single scoops up to tubs to take home, and one visitor regretted not grabbing a tub on the way out.
Here is the reasonable way to think about it. Downtown Nashville is not a cheap neighborhood, and $8 for handmade, small-batch ice cream you cannot buy in any store is a fair trade compared to a $30 sit-down dessert course.
A single scoop is often plenty, especially after lunch. One customer split a scoop between coffee and mint chip and called the portion exactly right.
Hours Built for Early Birds and Night Owls
Eight in the morning until midnight, seven days a week. That schedule is unusual for an ice cream shop and it is one of the most practical things about the place.
Early risers can grab an espresso before the rest of downtown wakes up. Late-night wanderers coming off Broadway can still get a cone at eleven at night, which is when a lot of visitors end up walking through the door.
Sunday hours match every other day, so weekend trips do not require any special planning. The consistency is genuinely useful when you are driving in from out of town and cannot pin your arrival time down to the hour.
Holidays and special events can change things, and any business can adjust its schedule, so a quick call to 615-742-6453 or a look at mikesicecream.com before you leave is a smart habit.
One planning note based on customer accounts: even a Tuesday at one in the afternoon can bring a five to ten minute line. Mornings tend to be the quietest window, and July 4th weekend is the busiest kind of day you can pick.
Driving In From Across Tennessee
Gas-tank math is how most Tennessee weekends get planned, so here are the numbers. From Chattanooga, downtown Nashville is roughly 126 to 133 miles and about 2 to 2.5 hours up I-24.
Knoxville drivers cover around 174 to 180 miles, which usually works out to 2.5 to 3.5 hours depending on how I-40 is behaving. Memphis is the longest haul at roughly 202 to 212 miles and 3 to 3.5 hours.
If you live in Murfreesboro, Clarksville or Franklin, you are looking at under an hour, which makes this an easy add-on to any downtown afternoon rather than a destination trip on its own.
Parking is the real hurdle downtown. One visitor pointed to a Premier Parking garage nearby, and garage rates in this part of the city are typically the main cost of the outing beyond the ice cream itself.
Walking in beats driving in. If you are already strolling Broadway or the riverfront, the shop is a short, flat walk away.
Traffic and construction shift often, so check road conditions before you head out.
Fitting It Into a Downtown Walking Day
Second Avenue puts you within a few minutes of most of downtown Nashville’s landmarks. The riverfront, the pedestrian bridge and Broadway’s row of music venues all sit within easy walking distance, which makes this shop a natural mid-route stop.
A workable plan: park once in a garage, spend the morning along the river, then duck in for cones when the heat or the walking catches up with you. Guests routinely describe the visit as a cooling break in the middle of a longer day on foot.
Families get good value from the timing. Kids who have run out of patience for museums will usually rally for a flavor board with thirty-plus options and free samples on offer.
Evening works differently. After dark, 2nd Avenue quiets down compared to the main strip, and one visitor specifically appreciated that the shop sits slightly apart from the nightlife bustle.
Since the doors stay open until midnight, you do not have to build your whole schedule around dessert. Whether you land here at nine in the morning or ten at night, the case is stocked and the espresso machine is running.
Who Gets the Most Out of a Visit
Curious eaters win here. If the idea of cornbread crumbs in blackberry ice cream intrigues rather than alarms you, this shop is built for your kind of appetite.
Families do well too. Indoor seating, a long flavor list, milkshakes, floats and snacks cover most age ranges, and grandparents get the bonus of a room that looks like the parlors they grew up with, exposed brick and all.
Coffee drinkers traveling with dessert people solve an old argument, since one counter handles both. That single detail makes it easier to keep a mixed group happy without splitting up.
Who might want to think twice? Anyone hoping for a spacious, high-design dessert lounge with music and heavy branding may find the room simpler than expected, and a few guests have said as much.
Large groups should also plan for the possibility of a line, since the space is small and rushes happen. Patience pays off.
For a couple walking downtown, a family cooling off, or a solo traveler chasing a flavor they cannot find at home, the fit is strong.
The Verdict on a Cornbread Cone
Eight dollars buys a lot of curiosity here. For the price of a single scoop, you can taste something no freezer aisle in Tennessee stocks, made in small batches a few feet from where you order it.
Not everything lands perfectly every visit, and customers are honest about that. A scoop can occasionally taste less fresh than the last, and service quality varies with the crowd.
That is the reality of a busy downtown shop rather than a reason to skip it.
What holds steady is the ambition of the flavor board. Blackberry Cornbread, Tennessee Fudge, White Chocolate Banana Pudding, sea salt caramel, toasted coconut, seasonal peach iced tea.
Somebody in that kitchen is genuinely thinking.
Combine it with a free walk along the riverfront and the whole outing can land under $40 for a couple, garage parking included. That is a modest sum for an afternoon in Music City.
Go in the morning if you want it calm, at night if you want it lively. Either way, order the cornbread one first and decide for yourself whether the Southern experiment works.